A few of us are getting excited about gardening, so lets post our garden progression stories and pictures here. Beds, balconies, pots, if you are growing plants outside, share your experiences.

This will be the third year I have had my plot at the allotment garden. I have clubroot in part of it, maybe all, so I have decided not to grow any brassicas directly in the soil. I took this picture the first week of March. The only things showing were my garlic, chives, arugula (in a pot), left over summer leeks, strawberry plants, and raspberry canes.

My garden looks a little better now but I haven't taken any pictures in a couple weeks. Here is when I first put up the the dog proof fence when it was brand new.and here is when I added two more bed which are still not filled! There is Kale, chives, carrots, beets and onions but they are all pretty tinyand here is Willow in a hole

Beautiful gardens! I'm soooo excited and optimistic this spring, it's scary. I have three gardens totaling 1500 square feet to herald over this season (five times bigger than I've ever had). I've gone way over my head with it, but I think I can manage a full time job and a giant garden... I *think* I can. The little gardener that could*.There are so many photos on my blog, and it's a pain to put them on photobucket to repost. If you want to see it, check this out --> http://myheartshapedgarden.blogspot.com/

Alligatordisco, what do you do with all of your veggies? I really admire your gusto and organization!

My gardens are so big this year because the majority is for my dad (in his yard), and I'm sure he'll do his best to eat as much of them as possible. I'm looking into food banks that will take extra produce, which I'm sure I'll have. Friends and family will get their share too, and I hope to master the art of preserving by mid-summer.

Magpie I like the ladder-trellis you've got. And lazysmurf, willow in a hole = too cute!!

I don't have any recent pics of my garden. I need to get out there and do some cleaning up, since at the end of last year I just had a baby and didn't do enough trimming/cleaning away old plants. This Sunday I did manage to plant my peas, and of course, now 3 days later it is snowing.

So, here's a pic of one side of my yard from last May 4th, right after we put down new mulch on the paths. So it is just the spring plants, the summer ones aren't in yet. It is pretty haphazard! There's 4 raised beds and an herb garden in the back. I have 2 similar raised beds on the other side of my yard too, plus a big blackberry bush, grapes, some honeyberries that I put in last year then didn't water enough so they may or may not grow back, a crazy out-of-control mint bed & some perennial flowers.

_________________I'm not asking for utopian dreams...just a little peace in this world. That's a logical thing. - Deee-Lite

Ok wait I just found some more pics. I'm not going to edit the above post cuz I'm lazy. So here's the same area a month later in june 2010 (boy I can't wait till everything is green like this again!! I'm so over gray winter!):

And here is where I just planted my peas on the other side of the yard, also from last June. Last year I grew beans on the back trellis, 2 tomatoes and peppers out front. This year I'm putting peas along the back instead and rotating the beans to the other side of the yard. I'll have tromochino squash there in the summer. I'm going to put peppers in front again in the summer though, since I don't have someplace better to rotate them to.

_________________I'm not asking for utopian dreams...just a little peace in this world. That's a logical thing. - Deee-Lite

^Yeah, it can be challenging...can't wait to see yours in full swing! Our fence also fell down last winter and that makes me grumpy having a parking lot and garbage bins right next to my veggies, but oh well...the joys of renting.

_________________"Produce pot pie is my loved. I suchlike it with gust pastry on top tho', not a dry crust."

Alligatordisco, what do you do with all of your veggies? I really admire your gusto and organization!

My gardens are so big this year because the majority is for my dad (in his yard), and I'm sure he'll do his best to eat as much of them as possible. I'm looking into food banks that will take extra produce, which I'm sure I'll have. Friends and family will get their share too, and I hope to master the art of preserving by mid-summer.

Food banks are an excellent way to share your excess veggies. I just enrolled in a new program here called plant a row grow a row, and it is for a local food bank. I'm also hoping to do some canning this season, too.

Aubade, I remember commenting on your lovely metal trellis. I grabbed mine from my allotment garden, and fixed it up. We have a section of supplies that gardeners are no longer using. It is cool, because you see things in different peoples gardens.

I just wanted to share this pic of portable greenhouses I built for any other people who don't have really hot weather. They cost about $6 each for all of the supplies. I use them for my sweet peppers. You can also make a bigger one with a wooden pallet and 1" poly tubing (irrigation). I'll try to get a pic of the one the compost education centre built.

Uninformed person question:Why doesn't anyone plant the plants in the ground? What's with the raised beds? When I was a kid we'd just til part of the yard for the garden... maybe put cherry tomatoes in a planter in front of the house cuz they looked pretty, but the rest was stuck right into the ground in the backyard.

If you rent, it's not always economical to amend soil for a large area when you may be moving.... I know many older houses such as a few I have lived in have terrible amounts of fill and crepe in the dirt. That's why I use them.

_________________"Produce pot pie is my loved. I suchlike it with gust pastry on top tho', not a dry crust."

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

Uninformed person question:Why doesn't anyone plant the plants in the ground? What's with the raised beds? When I was a kid we'd just til part of the yard for the garden... maybe put cherry tomatoes in a planter in front of the house cuz they looked pretty, but the rest was stuck right into the ground in the backyard.

It's easier, for the most part. You don't have to work hard digging up the grass (or renting a tiller). Some soils are heavy on clay or sand, and you don't have to worry about that if you start with fresh soil. You don't have to weed much (or at all) since you're starting with fresh soil. You don't have to deal with giant rocks and weird trash in the ground. You don't have to keep the grass from encroaching. If you choose a bad spot, it's much easier to move the raised bed than to amend soil in a new spot.

Uninformed person question:Why doesn't anyone plant the plants in the ground? What's with the raised beds? When I was a kid we'd just til part of the yard for the garden... maybe put cherry tomatoes in a planter in front of the house cuz they looked pretty, but the rest was stuck right into the ground in the backyard.

another reason is the soil warms up much faster if it is above ground, which means you can start planting earlier.

Uninformed person question:Why doesn't anyone plant the plants in the ground? What's with the raised beds? When I was a kid we'd just til part of the yard for the garden... maybe put cherry tomatoes in a planter in front of the house cuz they looked pretty, but the rest was stuck right into the ground in the backyard.

I do! I don't have the money for good wood or access to enough soil to fill raised beds. I like gardening directly in the soil, but I hope to have a few raised beds for root crops and strawberries in the future.

Thanks for all the responses... it makes sense now! I'd only ever gardened straight into the ground (our neighbor had a tiller and he would do all the gardens each year) so all this fancy gardening stuff is new to me. I think I'm going to try to get my boyfriend to let me grow stuff in his yard this summer, I don't have anywhere that I can grow anything near my apartment, but he lives on the edge of the city and has space.

I have an updated pic! We added two more beds, I planted one and am trying to smother all the grass out of the other before I dig in. The Kale has gotten huge! Carrot thinning takes forever!that is baby spinach on the front right, kale to the left, onions down the middle, and carrots in the back.